1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed toward the field of medical informatics, and more particularly toward a medical informatics system with multiple displays.
2. Art Background
Radiology equipment (e.g., CT scanners, MRI scanners, X-Ray etc.) is in wide spread use as diagnostic tools in hospitals today. Typically, when collecting information from a diagnostic tool, several medical images are generated for subsequent analysis and diagnosis of the patient's medical condition. A collection of medical images that focus on a particular area may be referred to as a “medical exam”, and a collection of medical images or medical exams may be referred to as a “study.” For example, a study from an X-Ray machine may consist of a number of X-Rays taken from different perspectives of the target area. It is the totality of the study that the physician uses to make a diagnosis of the patient.
It has become more common in the medical field for images to be stored, distributed, and viewed in digital form using computer technology. Currently, Picture Archival and Communication Systems or PACS have been in widespread use. In a typical PACS application, image data obtained by imaging equipment such as CT scanners or MRI scanners are stored in the form of computer data files. The size of a data file for an image varies depending on the size and resolution of the image. For example, a typical image file for a diagnostic-quality chest X-ray is on the order of 10 megabytes (MB). The image data files are usually formatted in a “standard” or widely accepted format. In the medical field, one widely used image format is known as DICOM. The DICOM image data files are distributed over computer networks to specialized viewing stations capable of converting the image data to high-resolution images on a CRT display.
Radiology departments of hospitals often use computer workstations with multiple high-resolution monitors to perform diagnostic analysis on images. As such, it is desirable to develop a user interface for a medical informatics system that allows a user to readily control the display of images on a multiple display system.